{"id":4930,"date":"2026-04-30T05:22:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/?p=4930"},"modified":"2026-04-30T05:22:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:22:59","slug":"new-york-mitchel-loeb-cartoon-1913","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/arts\/new-york-mitchel-loeb-cartoon-1913\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Mitchel Loeb Cartoon (1913)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The card depicts the \u201cJewish people\u201d with a ball chain labeled \u201cBlood Libel\u201d and Tsar Nicholas II saying: \u201cGo, Mendel. You\u2019re free! Rejoice with your American friends but I won\u2019t waste any time in getting even for your acquittal with your left-behind Russian brothers.\u201d” (Yivo)

This cartoon deploys a great degree of didacticism in striving for obvious representations in the faces of the individuals involved within the historical event of the Beilis Affair. Here, a 20th century variation on the theme of the blood-libel, an anti-semitic myth with it’s a millennial old social history of its own, finds its main players in Menahem Mendel Beilis fleeing persecution from Czar Nicholas II. Left behind with the Czar is “the Jewish people” decrepit and fettered by the ball and chain of “blood-libel.”

While Beilis was eventually acquitted by a jury, the postcard highlights the grim reality of the verdict: the court technically maintained that a ritual murder had occurred, even if Beilis didn’t do it. This allowed the Tsarist regime to continue justifying antisemitic policies and pogroms against the “remaining Russian brothers” mentioned in the text.

This card was published by Progress Publishers, Yakov Lidski’s publishing company, and likely was circulated around Marxist Yiddish intellectual circles around New York City.

Translation:
Top (Header):
\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05e0\u05e7\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2 \u05e4\u05bf\u05d5\u05df \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05e1 \u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e6\u05e2\u05e1
“In memory of the Beilis Trial.”

Right Side (The Tsar’s Speech)
“:\u05e6\u05d0\u05b7\u05e8 \u05e0\u05d9\u05e7\u05d0\u05b8\u05dc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d9” \u05e6\u05d5 \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05e1”
“‘Tsar Nicholas’ to Mendel Beilis:”
\u05d2\u05d9\u05d9 \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05dc, \u05d1\u05d9\u05d6\u05d8 \u05e4\u05bf\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9! \u05e4\u05bf\u05e8\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d6\u05d9\u05da \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d3\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d0\u05b7\u05de\u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05d0\u05b7\u05e0\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e4\u05bf\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2, \u05d0\u05b8\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8 \u05d0\u05d9\u05da \u05d5\u05d5\u05e2\u05dc \u05d6\u05d9\u05da \u05e9\u05d5\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05b8\u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05e2\u05db\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2\u05df \u05e4\u05bf\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d3\u05d9\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05e2\u05e4\u05bf\u05e8\u05d9\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d2, \u05de\u05d9\u05d8 \u05d3\u05d9\u05d9\u05e0\u05e2 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05d2\u05e2\u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05d1\u05e2\u05e0\u05e2 \u05e8\u05d5\u05e1\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05d3\u05e2\u05e8.
“Go Mendel, you are free! Rejoice with your American friends, but I will settle the score for your liberation with your remaining Russian brothers.”

Bottom Footer:
\u05d1\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05e1 \u05e0\u05d9\u05d8 \u05e9\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d9\u05d2 \u2014 \u05d3\u05d9 \u05d9\u05d5\u05d3\u05e2\u05df \u05d9\u05d0\u05b8 \u05e9\u05d5\u05dc\u05d3\u05d9\u05d2.
“Beilis is not guilty \u2014 the Jews are guilty.”

Contextual Labels within the Illustration
On the Tsar’s Hat: \u05e0\u05d9\u05e7\u05d0\u05b8\u05dc\u05d0\u05b7\u05d9 (Nicholas)
On Beilis (the man walking away): \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d3\u05e2\u05dc \u05d1\u05d9\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9\u05e1 (Mendel Beilis)
On the seated old man (representing the Jewish people): \u05d3\u05d0\u05b8\u05e1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2 \u05e4\u05bf\u05d0\u05b8\u05dc\u05e7 (The Jewish People)
On the ball and chain: \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05ea \u05d3\u05dd (Blood Libel)
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The card depicts the \u201cJewish people\u201d with a ball chain labeled \u201cBlood Libel\u201d and Tsar Nicholas II saying: \u201cGo, Mendel. You\u2019re free! Rejoice with your American friends but I won\u2019t waste any time in getting even for your acquittal with your left-behind Russian brothers.\u201d” (Yivo) This cartoon deploys a great degree of didacticism in striving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","has-post-thumbnail"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9teox-1hw","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4934,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions\/4934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishstudiescolumbia.com\/myny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}